Well‐managed, aerated cover soils can have a mitigating effect on methane emission from landfills. The influence of moisture content, soil temperature, and N on the methane uptake capacity of a neutral landfill cover soil was examined. A soil moisture content of 15% w/w gave the maximum CH 4 oxidation rate (2.36 ng CH 4 h −1 g −1 soil). When wetter, CH 4 consumption was slower (e.g., 1.6 ng CH 4 h −1 g −1 at 30% w/w) because of a limited gas diffusion. At lower soil moisture, microbial activity was reduced and consequently the oxidation capacity decreased (e.g., 0.84 ng CH 4 h −1 g −1 at 5% w/w). Optimum temperature was between 25 and 30°C. The calculated activation energy of the CH 4 oxidation was 56.5 kJ K −1 mol −1 . After NH + 4 addition, a negative linear correlation was found between the methane oxidation rate and the nitrous oxide flux ( R 2 = 0.96, Y1 = 2.7 − 0.44 × Y2). Addition of NO − 3 had no significant effect on CH 4 oxidation. The effect of organic residue amendments depended on their C/N ratios. Crop residues with a high C/N ratio (wheat [ Triticum sativum L.] and maize [ Zea mays L.] straw) stimulated N‐immobilization and did not affect the methane‐oxidizing capacity. On the other hand, addition of crop residues with low C/N ratios (potato [ Solanum tuberosum L.] and sugar beet [ Beta vulgaris cv. Altissima] leaves) stimulated N‐mineralization, resulting in a strong inhibition of the methane oxidation.
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Boeckx et al. (1996) studied this question.